Secrets
by Stargazer19
Summary: Nothing seems to be what they appear until you see the real thing. Friends can pretend to be friends until they hurt you. Family you learn to love can lie to you. Even love can hurt someone. Rain learned everything the hard way. Swearing in 2nd chap. K.OC
1. Default Chapter

Stargazer : Okay, I'm back on track! I KNOW you guys are going to - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *hides behind a door when sees potatoes thrown at her* - No, wait! I CAN EXPLAIN! You see, I was on vacation, then when I came back i caught a freakin' cold...well more like a fever cause of the cold temp in the plane. Damn, do you know how cold it is?! Anyways, I'm still sick and starting a....  
  
*drumroll*  
  
Drama! Its my FIRST time doing drama, I thought about it over the vacation and thought I was getting a little tired of humors..for now. I hope you guys will like this story as much as you do in I'm a WHAT?! and I promise you, you'll find out her identity really soon. Er...i hope. But to make it up to you guys, I WILL give you a sneak preview for the later chapters. Oh yes, and another reason why I stopped I'm a WHAT?! is because well.... i got a new computer. I swear to god! BELIEVE ME!!! I finally got a windows xp but I can't get on microsoft word, how f-ed is that?! SOOO I'm stuck with WORDPAD...argh!  
  
Disclaimer : Don't own beyblade...damn...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Rain. She hated rain. Yet her deceased mother and father HAD to name her Rain.  
  
Rain reminded her of every tragity in her life that made her a vulnerable, silent, outcast with the complexion of a nerd.  
  
"Don't cry Rain. I'll be there in January! Come on, Rain, your a big girl now and it's time to expirence new places - new sites. And Japan is just the place for you to start off your journey around the world." explained an old lady, about the age of sixty.  
  
"But grandma-," Rain hiccuped. She brushed her black hair, like the darkest of charocoals, out of her sweaty face and looked at the elderly women with swollen cotten candy colors outlining her eyes. "-I don't want to leave you! I'm gunna miss you!"  
  
The sixteen year old, crying, girl broke into a new round of fresh new tears. She wipped her deep midnight blue eyes with the back of her left hand stubbornly. Rain bit her lip rather harshley to try to stop herself from crying.  
  
But no use.  
  
Because her grandmother was the only thing like a true mother she ever had in her life.  
  
And because she loved her too much.  
  
"Why-why can't you come with me?!" sobbed Rain. Her grandmother stroked her granddaughters hair gently. "I have things to take care of before I leave for Japan," she whispered. "Now please don't cry, dear. Your going to make me cry, too."   
  
Her grandmothers voice began to crack. The dyed-black haired women glanced at the silver clock hung in the center of Terminals Three and Four. "Fifteen more minutes before you have to leave." Rains grandmother informed, blinking back tears. Rain cried hoarsley. But don't take Rain as this unforgiving person you see right now. Rain is usually a shy girl, shunned out by the others at her school in Hong Kong.  
  
"Don't cry... theres nothing to cry about! In no time soon, I'll be in Japan, too. Remember, you still have your grandfather and cousin there. Your grandfather hasen't seen you in five years. I'm sure he'll be proud to see that his granddaughter is this well brought up. My...your even taller than me, huh?" complimented her grandmother. "You know...when you were little... your parents were very important to the world. They held such an important place in the world...until they died. Ya'know, I was so relieved that you and I made it out alive. But you should really thank your parents for that."   
  
Rain hiccuped and laid her head gently at the side of her grandmothers shoulder. "How'd th-that happen?"   
  
The elder she was leaning on's chestnut brown eyes broke into slits. "I can remember it so clearly...it scares me. We just came back from picking you and your mother up when these...cars just started circling us. Of course, it was raining really bad because of a storm so none of us knew their lisence. I forgot what brand cars they chased us in...but my, I have never seen a more blacker car in my life. Your mother and father's cellphone wouldn't work... and soon the driver got knocked unconcious. That was when your father took over. I still recall that we were in this very thin road on a mountain. The cars were lined up - two in front of us and two in back. Your father decided to pull on a fast brake - hurdling the two cars in back of us to the front. Unfortunately the road was too thin for us to turn around. Your dad told me to carry you and jump off, because he was going to crash into them, sending them all off the cliff. He told your mother to go with us, but your mom stayed behind. She loved your father too much to let him go, you know. With a last kiss from your mother to you and a gift from your mother to me, we jumped off. But when we jumped off, though, we were almost too late. The wind blew me and you like a leaf - sending us almost off the cliff. But I hung on. You in my left hand while hanging on a cliff for life in the other. But this is the strangest thing that happend. A man cloaked in all black pulled me and you up when I almost had no strength left. I thought he was a saviour for us - but once he pulled me up I got knocked out. When I woke up, the cars were no where in sight or the cloaked man. The only thing that was left was you, the item your mom gave me, and a mark. The mark that me and you have on our right hand. You know, the 'I' mark.  
  
Nodding knowingly, Rain rolled up her sleeves and checked for the 'I' mark. True, both her and her grandma has the letter 'I' on their right arm. "What was that gift my mom gave you, anyways?" asked Rain, sniffing. Her grandmother smiled at her knowingly. "I was planning to give this to you, but I decided to give it to you today," she handed her granddaughter a simple silver necklace with a star as a pendant. "This is so pretty...," gawked Rain. "Wow..." "Yeah, it is pretty, isn't it? Your great great grandmother gave it to your great grandmother and your great grandmother gave it to me... well you get the point. But now, your going to be the owner of it."   
  
Her grandmother began to put the slim chain of silver around Rain's neck. "It's lovely on you."  
  
Rain started flipping the pendant a round. "R...," she softley said. "For Rain..."  
  
"And also for Rose, which is me, and Renae, your mom." smiled Rain's grandma.  
  
"Five more minutes until the take off from Guangzhou to Tokyo. Fiver more minutes until the take off from Guangzhou to Tokyo." Rang the speakers.  
  
The blue haired girl gave another whail. "Your way too important for me to just leave..." Her grandmother hugged her, "Your the most important person in my life; and soon you'll be very important to the world, too. Just like your parents. You remember that."   
  
With a final hug and kiss, Rain departed her grandma face full of tear streams. She was determined not to look back, for the sight of her grandmother would give her the temptation of staying back in China.  
  
As she approached the final gate, she turned back to see her grandmothers dark chocolate eyes starring right back at her.  
  
Waving, her grandmother brushed tears away with her index finger.  
  
Rain waited as she watched her grandmother for the last time, with three words escaping her mouth.  
  
"I love you."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Rain! God, where the hell are you?!" cried her cousin.   
  
He, of course, had dull blue hair topped with his favorite hat. Tyson, his name was, desperatly searched for his cousin.   
  
Nothing happend to her, right? 'Oh shit...Gramps is gunna freak out if I don't find her...!'   
  
"RAIN!"  
  
"Here!" cried a weak voice, barely for Tyson to notice. He scanned the hallway filled with previous passengers with his azure eyes, desperate to find his cousin. "CAN'T YOU SCREAM ANY LOUDER?"   
  
No reply.  
  
"RAIN?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
'Now she answers.'  
  
"Where is *here*?" asked Tyson.  
  
A light tug on the yellow sleeve of his shirt made him turn around, irratated. "What *is* it? I'm trying to find-"   
  
Tyson's eyes widened. "Rain! God damn it, where the hell *were* you? You had me so freakin' worried about my ass being kicked by grandpa..."   
  
Rain giggled, finally quitting crying. Her eyes were no longer puffy red, but her eyes were not the same. Light shadows hid underneath her eyelid because of the lack of sleep on the airplane.  
  
"Dang, you need some sleep. Oh yeah, grandpa didn't come because he said he had business to take care of...whatever. He'll be back in three days so we have the house to ourselves. Oh, here, lemme have that." Tyson offered with Rain's luggage.   
  
His cousin shook her head. Rain was telling the truth, she didn't need help with her luggage, but instead need help with finding a bed to sleep on.   
  
Rain and Tyson finally exited airport and to a red colored van. ("I thought you were going to bring a lot of stuff so I bought the van over...so um...yeah." said Tyson, his voice getting quieter as he spoke.) She nodded knowingly as Tyson hoisted the black suitcase into the backseat of the car.  
  
"Thanks." said Rain shyly. Her cousin nodded nonchalontly and walked to the other side of the car while Rain got in the car. When the door finally was shut and Tyson jumped in, they were ready to leave.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Hours had gone by and still, no sign of home. The music provided by the radio was droned out by Tyson's voice. He was talking about the school Rain was going to and the conditions about their neighborhood. Rain rested her head on her palm.   
  
"Rain? Rain?? Rain?!" "Yes?" Rain jolted from her position to face Tyson. He scrunched up his eyes and looked at her. "What's wrong?" Rain let out a soft "Hm?" Before replying quickly. "Oh, I'm just tired - its nothing." Rain focused back on the passing scenery outside when she got a glimpse of a truck in front of them, accompanied by a earthshaking honk.  
  
"Tyson!" Rain gasped, clutching seat belt and staring forwards in horror. "What - AH!!"   
  
In front of them was a truck probably two times taller than them and four times wider. "Holy SHIT!" yelled Tyson, death gripping the steering wheel and turning it to the right. Rain let out a small scream and reached out for the steering wheel, too, turning it towards her.  
  
The car spun franticly in circles, blurs of colors passed by the Granger cousin's vision and the car finally collided with the side of the mountain.   
  
Rain and Tyson both stared, wide eyed, at the rocky wall before them, not blinking. Tyson gripped the steering wheel while Rain gripped her seatbelt.   
  
"Wow." Tyson let out. "Wow..." echoed Rain. After a few moments of complete silence and time to shake off shock, Tyson slapped his right hand on his forehead and cursed. "Crap. Grandpa's really goin' to kill me." Rain didn't move. She replayed the previous advents in her mind while Tyson searched franticly for his cellphone.  
  
'What's Max's number, what's Max's number, damn it, I can't remember! Okay...I'll call Rei...yeah...oh please god, don't let him shut off his cell!' prayed Tyson. Rain remained looking forward.  
  
Punching in numbers rapidly with his fingers, Tyson finally got through.  
  
"Hullo?" A voice rang.  
  
"Rei! You have no idea how relieved I am that you didn't shut off your phone." replied Tyson.  
  
"Since when the hell did you start using the word relieved?"  
  
"Since now. But anyways, I need you to give me and my cousin a ride to our house. Where are you anyways?"  
  
"I'm at Kai's...and we're bored as hell."  
  
"Thats good, hey ask him if you could borrow a car or something so you can pick us up. A fucking truck came by and almost ran us off the cliff and well...in the end I crashed."  
  
On the other line, 'Rei' made an 'Ouuu' sound.  
  
"Your gramps is gunna kill you."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Well hold up...I'm going to ask him right now."  
  
Rain turned her head to face Tyson with a little annoyed look on her face. In reply, her cousin flashed her an index finger telling her to wait.  
  
"He says that his mom borrowed his BMW and his dad got the limo."  
  
"What about his *grandpa*?"  
  
"Porshe."  
  
"DAMN IT! Well what about the bikes?"   
  
"*What* about the bikes?"  
  
"Ask if we can use them."  
  
Tyson could hear Rei mimicing him in the background.  
  
"Kai says 'Whatever.'"  
  
"O-kay....so is that a yes?" "Dunno." There was a pause. "Right...so pick us up on exit nintey - four. You'll find us somewhere in the road. And bring two bikes, will ya?" "Whos going to drive the other one?" asked Rei.  
  
"Kai, duh." replied Tyson as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What the hell? He's not gunna go..."   
  
Tyson sighed for a moment. "Remember when you guys said you were bored?" "Yeah." "Well think of this as passing time." With those final words, Tyson shut off the phone. He looked over to his cousin only to find her staring back at him. "What?" "So...what now?" asked Rain, tilting her head a bit. Tyson sighed and began to open the door. "My friends are picking us up so we better start going."   
  
Rain craned her neck higher to watch Tyson walk away from the car. "Where are we going?" "There." He nodded his head to a tiny green speck about three fourths of a mile down the highway. Rain squinted her eyes together to make out the words "94" on the green sign.  
  
She nodded obidently and opened the back door, not wanting to look at the cars wrecked front. Tyson came up from behind her and dragged her suitcase on the ground. He began dragging her luggage when Rain offered to do it on her own.  
  
"Don't sweat it, cuz. Besides, its a guy's job." Tyson said smuggly. He knew his cousin would retort to this comment. "Oh, yeah?! So your saying girl's can't do it?" "Yeah." Rain huffed. There was a brief silence of walking before Tyson let out, "Jeez, it was only a joke, kid." Rain glared at Tyson. "I am not a kid." "Yes you are." "No I'm not!" "Sure....." They walked in silence again.  
  
~*~*~  
  
It was about a half an hour before Rei and Kai came. Tyson waved franticly to get their attention while Rain fanned herself with her hand. "Are they here?"   
  
Tyson nodded over his shoulder. "Yeah." She sighed in relief and got up from the suitcase - where she was sitting. Both of them were sweating like mad, while two guys about seventeen years old in motorcycles sped their way over towards them.  
  
"Yo Rei," greeted Tyson. "Kai."   
  
Tyson turned around to face Rain. "This is Rei Kong on the left." Rain looked at the boy on the left, which had black hair that was tied into a long poney tail in the back. On his hair was a red head band with a ying-yang on it. He had on white shorts and black baggy pants.  
  
"Hi." smiled Rain. "Hey."   
  
Tyson began to load the back of Rei's motorcycle with her suit case. "...And him?" She suddenly asked. Tyson looked up from tying a rope around the suit case. "He's your rider." "Whats his -," Before Rain could ask for the other person's name, her cousin and Rei took off leaving her coughing on the dust they started. She blinked a few times before walking cautiously towards the motorcycle.  
  
"Um...hey...," Rain started. She didn't get an answer back. "Uh... am I suppose to ride this?"   
  
"You see any other cars that are here for you to ride on?" spat the person. Rain gave the boy a 'whats-your-problem' expression.   
  
But then it just hit her.  
  
"D-Did you just say I'm gunna have to ride on that thing?" She asked. There was a tint of fear in her voice. She had never. Ever. Rode on a motorcycle before.  
  
"What? Scared?" he asked coldly.   
  
"No!" lied Rain. She looked at the person. He had darker hair being shilded by his periwinkle blue hair in the front, yet Rain couldn't see his face. From her view in the back she could notice he had a lean and strong body - and not buff.   
  
"Then get on."   
  
Rain rolled her eyes. "Jerk..." She said it quiet enough to be mistaken by a whisper, but loud enough for the driver to hear it.  
  
"Wench." He replied, just as loud. "I heard that...arse..."  
  
Getting onto a motorcycle would be easy for anyone - just like getting onto a horse - but easier. But for Rain it wasn't. She put one hand on the seat while trying hoisting her left leg over the seat. After about what seemed five minutes, she finally sattled the seat  
  
Rain ignored him and starred into the rear-view mirror. Her driver had cuerulean blue scars on his face. with the most cold eyes ever. The anger in his light brown eyes mixed with amber was unmatched, and his lips were sealed as if forbidding any sort of smile to cross it.   
  
"See something you like?" He asked, looking back at her through the mirror. A smirk formed in his lips. Rain stared back. "You wish." She then looked at the ground. "I suppose your Kai?" No response.  
  
"O-kay.... Well my names Rain. Er... is there any way you could maybe slow down... and, well you know, not go so fast?"   
  
Kai looked forward again. "Not a chance."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Stargazer : Alright, end of chapter one! I hope you like it so far, and as for the preview for the later chapters. Remember, it is in NO order and all the ' / ' is the different scenes in the fic.  
  
~*~  
  
"Remember when your grandmother said you'll hold an important place in the world?" "Yeah." "Well...your a -" / "You knew all along!" "I didn't want to hurt you." "Well did you ever think of hurting me now?!" / "WHAT AM I!??!" / "You cheated on him! I can't believe you cheated on him! You are such a god damned scamp!" "Oh shut up, do you really think I went out of him because of my so called 'feelings'? You are such a hopeless romantic. All I wanted to do was to get close to him...and murder him." "You fucking bitch..." / "Oh come on! We have to wear a stupid uniform because a prince is gunna visit us?" "Yeah." "Well whos the prince?" "Er... I think thats him right now." The nine teens looked at where the girl was pointing. "Oh my god..." / "Don't." "Don't what?" "You know what." "No I don't...." "Don't make me fall for you." "I'm not trying to." "But you already did..." / "You damn bastard! You killed them!"   
  
~*~  
  
Well I hope those catches your eyes. I'll do my best to keep writing this...and I hope you like it.  
  
NOW REVIEW!!! =)  
  
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	2. Chapter 2

Stargazer : Damn... 8 reviews! Yay! I thought I was gunna have like one or something. The dramas not going to start yet, but it will in the later chapters. Is anyone even reading my useless talking anyways? Okay, I really feel ignored here lol. Oh, and, this chapters going to be a bit...long, so I hope you enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer : I don't own anything...the only thing i own is the plot and some characters.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"OH MY GOD!!" screamed Rain. She closed her eyes tightly as if someone was about to kill her.  
  
Rain bounded her hands around Kai's body. The ride seemed to be more painful for Kai than it seemed to her. "Slow down!"   
  
"Look, this isn't a bicycle, kid. If you want to get there faster than make this experience a good thing. And, damn it, let go of me." Kai snapped. He increased the speed of the motorcycle, sending both Rain and his hair to whip across their face. Rain ignored his lecture, and, instead of letting go of her grip, she increased it.  
  
Not only that, but she dug her head into his back.  
  
"What the hell?! Will you just let - go - of - me?" Kai glared at the rearview mirror, expecting that Rain was staring into it, but didn't. He felt her shake her head against his back. He grunted. 'Damn bitch.' Kai thought.  
  
The thirty minutes of the ride was painful silence. Not once did Rain open her eyes. When Kai changed lines, Rain hugged onto him deeper than usual, thinking that they might flip over.  
  
Out of no where, a tap on her shoulder sent her inching towards Kai more than ever, clinging onto him.   
  
"Uh...Rain? You kind of...um...stopped?" Rain recognized Tyson's voice. At once, she snapped her eyes open joyfully and looked around.  
  
"Tyson!"   
  
"Yep...that's me."   
  
"Tyson! My god am I glad to see you!"   
  
"You know...now that we've stopped you can get the hell off me." stated a very cold, know it all voice. Rain turned her face forwards to be inches away from Kai's dark blue hair. "Oh!"   
  
She instantly let go of their embrace as if her hands just touched something hot. "I'm so sorry!"   
  
Kai didn't respond.  
  
Rain got off the motorcycle quickly, relieved that she was on land again. "I'll see you at school. Later!" She could hear Tyson say, waving at his friends.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A girl about the age of sixteen ran her fingers through her hair quickly, getting tangles stuck between her fingers.  
  
"Damn it..." She cursed.  
  
"Laurie... I'm gunna be late for school!" whinned a boy, half the age as her. He tugged at his sisters shirt eagerly.   
  
"Alrigh', jus' go away. I'm gunna get changed." replied 'Laurie.'  
  
Lorenza Montiero, also known as Laurie, had a cruel life. Fate decided that her mother should die at an early age - right after her little brothers birth because of cancer. Her father didn't do anything about it while her mother passed. All he did was gamble their money away and drink. Now, stuck in a trailer, Lorenza had been cursed to do all the chores, cooking, shopping (for groceries), and thats about it. Having enough time to do her homework and squeeze in time to take her little brother to school was the least of her worries. The main problem is, was there enough money for them to survive?  
  
That was when Lorenza knew she had to get a job. As a maid. For the Ivanov Family, for their son's personal maid from Monday's to Friday's, four p.m. to seven p.m.   
  
"Are you done yet?" an annoyed voice called through the door. "Yeah, okay, fine. What time is it?" Lorenza asked quickly. She tied her hair up sloppily and swung open the door.  
  
"Seven thirty." called her little brother.  
  
"Okay, c'mon Matt. Matt? Oh whot the hell..." she shook her head and sighed; entering the kitchen. "Lunch, righ'?"   
  
Matt looked up from searching through the refridgerator. "Yeah. Wheres the lunchables?"   
  
Laurie searched the refrigerator. "Up your butt." she said without looking at her little brother.  
  
He glared at her. "I'm gunna tell dad."   
  
His sister grunted in hate. "He's not gunna care. Oh, hea's the last one." Laurie reached out to take the last box of 'Lunchables' and shoved it lightly into her brothers stomach. "Now hurry up, I gotta go to school, too." She ruffled her brothers hair chestnut brown hair. Matt, in return, jumped to grab Lorenza's hair.  
  
"Nope...your not gunna touch this girl's hair until your like... twenty four." Laurie noted. Both of them grabbed their backpacks.  
  
"Shortie." she added.  
  
"Hey!" shouted Matt, hitting her arm.  
  
"Don't hit me!"  
  
"Well don't call me a shortie."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Rain stepped into the threshold of the school, cool air washed over her face. She had on yellow shorts and pink capri's. Rain had to admit, she had no style. But she didn't like shopping so she didn't bother picking out whats 'in.'  
  
A few girls passing by giggled at her choice of clothes and pointed at her. One had blonde hair, the middle had black hair with red streaks, and the last one had pink hair. They were all in white skirts and tops lined with blue. Even a person without glasses could see that they were cheerleaders.  
  
Behind them were a group of guys either about their same age or younger than them. Rain noticed the pink haired girl look her up and down and then rolled her eyes. Without a second glance from the other two, the three stalked off the opposite end of the hall Rain was going to.  
  
'Room 206...second floor.' she thought. Rain looked around for the stairs.   
  
When she finally stumbled on the stairs a girl came running by, accidentally knocking her off balance. Her binder fell, along with her paper that told her where her homeroom was.   
  
"Oh, Jesus..." She heard the girl mumble. The brunette that knocked her off backtracked and picked up Rain's binder and status sheet. She glanced at the paper, then back at Rain.  
  
"Hi! My names Lorenza Montiero - just call me Laurie. Ah saw that your in room 206!" Laurie laughed. "Your in the same homeroom as me!"   
  
Rain smiled at her new classmate. Surely she sounded nicer than the girls she met earlier. "My name's Rain Granger." Rain placed a hand out. "Nice to meet you."  
  
Lorenza ignored the hand and hugged Rain. "Are ya new hea'?" She asked. The black haired girl noticed that Laurie had an accent.  
  
"Yeah."   
  
The brunette nodded her head and replied, "Thought so."  
  
When the two girls got to the top of the staircase, Rain walked to the left while Lorenza headed to the right. "Where ya goin'?" called Laurie.  
  
Rain scrunched up her eyebrows a bit and stared at the ground. "To homeroom?"  
  
Lorenza sighed and ran behind Rain then pushed her towards the room with the plaque '206' on the top the other way.  
  
Rain blushed in embarrasment.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hello.......Laurie." A friendly voice called out. Both of the girls looked up to see a boy.   
  
A guy....a very hot guy....with flamming red hair on each side of his head starring down at them.  
  
"Screw off, Ivanov." cried Lorenza. The boy slid a hand around Lauries slim waist. "I think not." he said. Rain noticed he had a happy, go lucky voice. "Ah think so!" Laurie snapped back. At that instant, the boy tickled Lorenza on her sides. Rain felt her jump from behind her.  
  
"Go away!" she barked, slapping away his hands. "Now thats no way to treat your master..." Rain heard him whisper - then saw Lorenza's eyes widened a bit. Curriosity got to her, so she finally asked what was on her mind that exact moment.  
  
"Are you guy's going out?" asked Rain. Both of the people in front of her directed their gazes towards her.  
  
"Of cawrse' not!" denied Laurie.  
  
"Of course we are." The boy announced.  
  
Laurie shoved him away. "Oh, Ah forgot to tell you! His name's names Tala Ivanov. And wea' NOT going out. It's just that Ah'm his..." She paused. "Maid."   
  
There was an awkward silence.   
  
"Oh....I see..." Rain nodded. Suddenly, Lorenza jumped up again.   
  
"TALA!" she screamed. Laurie turned back to face Rain once more saying, "Ah'll see ya later, kay?"  
  
Rain nodded, seeing Laurie walking after Tala. The black haired girl looked around the room. She saw the same three cheerleaders she encountered earlier gossiping about something. This time, they didn't notice her. In the middle portion of the room was a blonde boy arguing about something with a orange haired girl about something. Another guy was standing inbetween them, probably telling them to seperate. He was a good feet shorter than them with brown hair. His bangs covered his eyes.  
  
Behind them was Tala and Lorenza, Tala holding up her elastic band and Laurie desperatly trying to get it back. Rain tilted her head. Laurie actually looked better with her hair down. It was the first time Rain noticed Laurie had gold streaks in her hair.   
  
She looked next to them, and amazingly, she found Kai. He was closing his eyes currently, as if blocking out the classroom from his mind, and crossed his arms across his chest. At that moment, he shot open his eyes to directly glare at Rain. Rain, startled, jerked her head to look somewhere else. Apparently, she found an empty seat in the front of the room. The lass quickly sat down; avoiding his gaze.  
  
Right as she sat down, another student came stumbling into the room. The student quickly ran into the classroom and dropped the mountain of books on top of the desk next to Rain's. About three of the novels she was carrying dropped on the ground, one of them ending up next to Rain's foot.  
  
Rain hesitated before picking up the book.  
  
"Is this yours?" she asked quietly.  
  
The person, behind the books, turned out to be a girl. She had strait maroon hair, tied back into a high poney tail. Black, frammed, glasses covered her amber eyes. She had freakles a bit more than the blonde had - the one fighting with the orange headed student had that is. She was skinny for their age - even slimmer than Rain.  
  
"Y-Yeah..." she stammered. Timidly, the girl took the book away from Rain's hand; almost like she was afraid Rain was going to bite her. "Is this room 206?"  
  
Rain stared at the surface of her desk, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. "Uh huh..."  
  
Sitting down, the girl looked blanckly at her lap. "So...um, are you new here?"   
  
Rain nodded. "Are you?"  
  
The maroon haired girl mimiced Rain's movement. "My names May Miharu... and yours?"  
  
"Rain Granger."  
  
May nodded knowingly and looked down at the book Rain gave to her. The black haired girl next to her traced May's gaze over to the book. "Hey! You read the Lord of the Rings?"   
  
"Uh huh...do you?" asked May.   
  
"Yeah!"  
  
  
  
  
  
The next minutes in class, Rain and May got into a deep conversation. They both found out that the other had a lot in common with themselves. Even if it was only a couple of minutes, Rain and May began a close friendship.  
  
The teacher gave a short speach before the bell rang, and then they were dismissed for their first class - gym. Because the first day of school was normally short, they only had twenty minutes of their first block. The girl's gym teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, decided to tell the girls just to run laps for today to get ready for tomorrow, much to the girls' despise.   
  
Rain and May slowed their pace to run with each other still talking about books, movies, and all sorts of topics they had in common. That was when someone pushed Rain; making her fall to the ground. Luckily, her hands reacted quick enough to break the fall.   
  
May turned around to face the pink haired girl Rain bumped into earlier. From what May told Rain, her name was Mariah Zhang, the daughter of a very sucessful buisness man. She was the captain of the cheerleading club and was one of the most chased after girl in the school.   
  
"Watch where your going." Mariah sneered. Another cheerleader with black hair stopped. Rain recalled seeing her earlier the morning. Again, May told Rain the cheerleader's status. Her name was Mai Satou, the co-captain of the cheerleading club.She stopped and gave May an irratated look.  
  
"I thought those glasses of yours actually helped you. I mean, can't you move?" criticized Mai, in a tone that told May to back off.  
  
Just then, Lorenza shoved both of the girls away. "What's your problem?"  
  
Both of the cheerleaders stumbled forth, but didn't fall. They turned around to glare at Laurie.  
  
"Whats up *your* ass?" spat Mariah.   
  
"The same thing up yours." said Laurie, saying each word slowly.  
  
"Laurie, c'mon, don't start anything..." whispered Rain, afraid her friend would start a cat fight.  
  
"No! They really fucking bug me!" Lorenza growled, pushing Rain away.  
  
"Jeez, Montiero, I never knew you stood up for nerds." shot Mariah.  
  
"Well, Jeez Zhang, Ah never knew you were blind enough to get out of peoples way when their in front of you and theres wide open space everywhere! Maybe ya need glasses more than she does." replied Laurie, glancing at May.  
  
Mariah growled. "Well at least I'm not desperate enough to be a personal maid of a student attending here."   
  
Mai gasped.  
  
"Who?!"  
  
Mariah smirked over at Lorenza. "Tala Ivanov."  
  
"Oouu...the skater hottie? I wonder what they've been doing..." Mai grinned.  
  
Laurie shot Mai a death glare. "Ah'm not a one cent whore like you."  
  
"Well at least I am worth a price...while some of us here are worth nothing."  
  
Giggling, Mariah added, "Skaters are like that, Mai. They just love whoring themselves -"   
  
Lorenza gripped her hands tightly, Rain could see her knuckles turn shocking white, and ran towards Mariah in anger. Just then, a vibrant whistle ran through the crisp morning air. Laurie saw the old gym teacher whistle at them. "Move it, ladies!" She focused back on the pink haired cheerleader in front of her.  
  
"Temper, temper..." Mariah teased. "Mari, I'm outta here. Forget these losers, 'kay?" advised Mai. With that, the bouncy japanese girl ran past the scene. "Come on, Laurie, just ignore them. They're not worth it." Rain assured her friend.   
  
Both Rain and May ran ahead of the two girls, leaving them to glare at each other in hate.   
  
Before Laurie ran to catch up with Rain, she stopped, shoulder to shoulder with Mariah. "If ya think your so smart and think skatings that easy, why don't 'cha drop by at the park tomorrow after school? You should know where it is..." Lorenza tilted her in a challenging way.  
  
"Bring it." accepted Mariah.   
  
"Ohh, its gunna be brought." Lorenza grinned, running to catch up with her friends.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Hurry up, ladies! We have an important announcement today in the boys' gym. Come on, finish that lap there, Kamura!" shouted the orange haired teacher. She had frizzy, short hair that was even drier than a desert, in Lorenza's terms. Her hazel eyes bore into anyone's skin and had the appearence of a hag. Mrs. Daily waved at the remaining girls running their last girls to join their group.   
  
As soon as everyone in class followed their gym teaher to the larger gym. When the girls set foot in their gym territory, most of the guys in stadium looked their way. Many of the cheerleaders sent flirtatious looks at the jocks, recieving a grin in return. They were told to sit on the floor across from the boys as their gym teacher coughed, getting ready to start the announcement.  
  
  
  
"After school today, there will be the tryouts for your last year in beyblading. The tryouts will be open for today, tomorrow, and friday after school from three to four thirty. Its better to try out early because you'll have more chances of getting in than trying out late. This years country's rule is that there will have to be ten people on a team representing their school; and out of the ten there will have to be at least two girls. The former team-" The boys' gym teacher was cut off by the same blonde that hung out with Mariah and Mai this morning.  
  
"You mean, like, those spinning top things? What kinda girl would, like, try out for *that*?" she criticized.  
  
A couple of girls and a number of boys glared at her.   
  
She made a strange noise, like a cross from a cough and an 'ugh' sound, before stating, "What?"  
  
The boys' gym teacher inhaled a deep breath of air then started his speech again. "Now, as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," the blond haired girl scrunched up her eyebrows and shrugged. "The former team insisting of Enrique Frair, Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari, Rei Kon, and Max Tate will be watching as you battle against another until there are four left. Each one of the four will then have a battle against another until ther is only one. Alright, thats for today. We have a short gym class today but not tomorrow so make sure you losen those muscles for tomorrow's class. Dismissed."   
  
With that, the students got up and left the stadium and into the locker rooms. Rain finally went up to Lorenza to ask what she was speaking to Mariah about.  
  
"Hey, Laurie?" she asked softely. Her voice was droned out by the noises made by the girl's changing in the stalls. Rain sighed and tapped her brunette friend gently on the shoulder. Lorenza turned around, almost bumping into Rain.  
  
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Rain. Didn't see ya there..." The black haired girl nodded, almost like she was in shame, before asking, "So um...hows it with Mariah?"   
  
In a minute, Laurie's mood changed from okay to worse than bad.  
  
"Argh, Ah hate that lil' bitch and her friends as well. Ah told her to meet me at the skating park tomorrow. Anyways, Rain, do you beyblade?" asked Laurie.   
  
Rain shook her head. "No, but I have heard Tyson talk about it. I heard he has a bit beast."   
  
Lorenza clicked her tongue. "Aw...Ah was thinking that you would maybe try out for it. Aw well..."   
  
Widening her eyes, Rain looked at her friend. "I think I might have to stay and watch the try outs, though. Tyson has the car and I don't have my lisence yet." Lorenza gave Rain a strange look.  
  
"What? Is he your boyfriend or something?"   
  
Rain chuckled and shook her head slowly. "No, we're related. Tyson and I are cousins."   
  
Lorenza coughed.   
  
"Oh, gawd. You must have 'ta live through a lot." Rain nodded, although Laurie could barely see it. "Do *you* beyblade?" asked Rain.  
  
Laurie nodded her head. "Yeah, Ah have a bit beast 'n all, but Ah barely eva' have time for it. Oh, hey, wait a minute." She waved over at the same orange haired girl that was arguing with the blonde earlier in homeroom. "Emily!"   
  
Hearing her name called, she looked over at the direction she heard her name come from. "Oh, hi, Lorenza!" 'Emily' walked over to them.  
  
"Rain, this is Emily Smith; Emily, this is Rain Granger." Laurie introduced. Emily flashed Rain a friendly smile. Rain, in return, smiled shyly back. The only thing wrong with her smile was that she wasn't directing it to Emily. Instead, she was looking at the ground when she did so.  
  
When Rain finally looked back up to Emily, she noticed she had hazel eyes - a lot darker than Lorenza's silver ones.  
  
"Hey, Emily, could 'ya do me a *huge* favor....pleeaasseee???" Laurie whinned.   
  
Emily giggled. "What is it?"  
  
"Well..." started Laurie. "Ah wanna try out for the beyblade team so Ah need someone to pick up my little brother. On your way to pick up your little brother, could 'ya pick up mine as well?" Emily nodded. "Sure."   
  
"Thanks, so much."  
  
Once the bell rung; everyone started rushing out of the locker room. May went ahead of Rain because her next class was all the way on the opposite end of the school while Lorenza stayed behind to sign up for the try outs. When Rain climbed the stairs to her next class, Tyson grabbed onto her shoulders. With that much force on one shoulder, the black haired girl almost lost her balance, but luckily she grabbed onto the stairs' railing.   
  
"Yes?" She asked an out of breath Tyson. Her cousin was still panting. "Damn it... You have to walk - so - fast." he clutched his heart and coughed a bit.  
  
Rain looked in concern. "Are you okay, Tyson?" Her deep azure haired cousin nodded his head wearily. "Yeah. I'm - just telling you that I have to stay behind today for the try outs. You won't mind going, would you?"   
  
Rain shook her head. "Nope."  
  
"Okay, good. Well I gotta go, my next class is down the hall. You do know where your going, right?" asked Tyson. "Yeah." Rain confirmed. "Good. Well, Later."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Thanks, Mrs. Smith!" Lorenza thanked, waving as the red Lexus drove away. She quickly grabbed her purple back pack and ran inside the school. Teachers told her to slow down, but Laurie just ignored them and quickened her speed.  
  
The plain, ivory clock she passed flashed '4:23' as she passed it. 'Shit...' she thought.  
  
Laurie made a quick turn for the boys' gym. The first scene that she saw was Tala, Kai, and the same blonde haired boy Emily argued with leave the tall platform that overlooked all the stadiums. There were exactly nine stadiums. They were lined so that there were three across and three down and each had the identical color - blue. Lorenza could see Rain looking down from her high view, her expression told Laurie that she was afraid of height. Another blonde was in a intense conversation with a boy with raven hair tied into a poney tail in the back. There was a white haired boy behind Rain checking something in his hand. Lorenza knew it had to be his beyblade.  
  
"WAIT!"   
  
Her voice echoed through the gym.  
  
The people that were at the gym previously all stopped what they were doing and looked at Lorenza.  
  
"Yeah?" Tala asked. He apparently didn't recognize her until she ran and stood at the base of the gym, where, all the beystadiums were. "Lorenza?"  
  
"Yeah...thats my name. Ah can still try out, righ'?" Laurie hoped that she would. She saw Rain run down the metal staircase that lead to the bottom of the gym. She tugged on Tyson's red jacket sleeve and gave him a pleading look. Her cousin looked at her, then back at Lorenza.  
  
He was about to say something when Kai beat him to it. "No."   
  
"But its-"   
  
"No."   
  
"Its only -!"   
  
"No."  
  
"ITS ONLY FOUR GOD DAMNED TWENTY FIVE!"   
  
This time, Lauries voice droned out Kai's objection. All of the people, minus Kai and Laurie, looked at the digital clock hung on the left wall of the gym. It was true, it was only four twenty five.  
  
Kai kept his hard gaze on Lorenza and she kept on starring at him back. It was then when the white haired boy broke the silence.  
  
"Oh, come on. Shes just a girl! I bet theres going to be more tomorrow and the next day -"   
  
"Shut up, Suzuki. Ah can kick your ass any time Ah want." challanged Laurie, calling him by his last name.  
  
Suzuki glared at her. "Kick my ass? I'm sorry, but you probably can't even aim much less talk -" Again, Lorenza cut him off.  
  
In a flash, she bought up her beyblade.  
  
Now, her beyblade wasn't all that girly. It was bright yellow, streaked with white, and her bit beast was the least bit 'girlish'. It was a lion, much like a thunder lion, that resembled the 'thunder' card from Card Captor Sakura way too much.   
  
With a quick motion of her hand, and a flick of her wrist, she sent her beyblade flying towards Suzuki's silver chained necklace he was wearing. The beyblade, Spritz, dug deep into the chain, with its owner staring at it in shock, and broke it. Once the necklace finally broke; the blade recoiled back to its owner, which smiled proudly.  
  
"As you were saying?"   
  
Suzuki bought out his launcher and glared at her. "Kai, I'm taking this bitch down." he confirmed.  
  
The gray haired captain, crossed his arms across his chest. "Hn."   
  
Tala calmly walked to the nearest stadium and placed his left arm out. Knowingly, both Laurie and Suzuki walked towards the stadium. Both were on opposite sides, and got in the position of launching their blades.  
  
"Three...two...one...LET IT RIP!"   
  
The beyblade Suzuki had, a mixture between blue and silver, raced around Lorenza as hers just spun rapidly in the middle.  
  
"You fucking little whore, your not gunna get away with breaking the chain my girlfriend got me!" He roared, sending Lorenza a nasty look.  
  
Laurie looked at him in a sarcastic glance. She clasped both her hands together and tilted her head in a very childish manner.  
  
"Sticks and stones won't hurt my bones, but your words really harm me." she taunted. Suzuki growled. "Neptune, attack!"   
  
The two blades challanged each other into a race around the stadium as Lorenza asked Rain something. "Rain, is there a microphone in hea' thats still connected with the speakers?"   
  
Everyone looked at her as if she just asked Rain to kiss her.  
  
"Er...yeah, why?"   
  
"Give it 'ta me."   
  
Rain hurried up the stairs, and bought back a black microphone, with the wire still in back of her. Lorenza mummbled something that sounded like, "Damn wire is long..." as she dug into her backpack. A metallic purple CD player was in her hands when she finally took the item out of her bag.   
  
"Yeah, Lorenza? You do know this isn't dance class and this *is* a battle, right?" asked Tala.  
  
"Yeah, I do. Now shut up." Laurie commanded, pressing the 'play' button.   
  
Automaticly, the song 'Breathe' by Michelle Branch blasted in the gym. At that same moment the music started, Spritz gained agility.  
  
Another blonde with brown eyes that stood next to Lorenza squinted his eyes. "What the hell is she doing?" He asked as he saw her slowly dance to the music. The boy with raven hair next to him looked from Laurie, to her beyblade. It looked like he was tracing their movements.  
  
"I've seen this before...she's using her dance movements to direct her beyblade, Enrique. It seems to me like the music is giving her blade an extra boost of speed." he informed the blonde next to him. Enrique then mimiced his friends movements, staring from Laurie back to her beyblade.   
  
"That's fucking cheating! She can't use music to boost her stats!" Suzuki accused.   
  
"Theres no rule in the rule book that says Ah can't." she stated, slowly turning around with her hands up together. Her beyblade did the same. As she did this, she turned to the raven haired boy and said, "Your smart, Rei. Ah like in a guy," and winked.  
  
Rei flushed pink and looked down to the ground not saying anything. "And why the hell does she compliment you?!" Enrique asked angrily. Rain giggled.  
  
The match went on for several minutes, passing the limit of the try outs. None of the people seemed to notice, though. They were all staring at the stadium. Often when the two blades collided, they would send off sparks off the bowl. Clashes of light would be born when either of the blades tried to jump on the other, but missed by a second. With each attack that bore down to the arena, chips of it would fly from the stadium and onto the floor. Soon enough, the bowl had chalky white scratch marks made by the two blade that followed their every movement. No one spoke a word. The gym was deathly quiet, with the exception of the 'clangs' made by the blades. With the occasional curses that were directed to Lorenza by Suzuki.  
  
Now, the ring was officially a mini version of the Rocky Mountains. Hills of broken pieces from the arena laid at random places but the blades kept on racing like it was new. Rain watched her friend as she kept on dancing with a grin on her face. Truely, she was amazed by this new sport. She wondered why Tyson never told her sooner so he could teach her over the summers they spent together in China. Questions popped into her head. How can a spinning top last so long? How can they have that much impact on the metal bowl? And most of all, what were bit beasts? She recalled Tyson telling her that he had one, but never has he showed it to her.   
  
Quietly, she side walked over to Tyson, who was behind Suzuki. Rain was the first person who moved other than Laurie.  
  
"Tyson?" she asked, still marveled at the battle in front of her. "Yeah?" he replied in a hushed voice.  
  
"What are bit beasts?" Rain whispered.  
  
Her cousin didn't leave his eyes off the two blades - which were now mere white and blue blurs.   
  
"I have a feeling you'll see them in a moment. I think you'll know it when you see it. Just wait a little longer..." he said.   
  
Rain nodded from behind him and focused back on the battle.  
  
"This is fucking bullshit, I'm sending out my bit beast now to kick your ass!" Suzuki roared. For the first time since the beginning of the battle, Laurie opened her eyes to send a menacing look at her opponenet. "Go ahead, but in the end, my bit beast will send your bit beast all the way - down - 'ta - hell." cried Lorenza in a monotone voice, emphasizing her last four words.  
  
Tala sent Lorenza a questioning look. "You have a bit beast?" Laurie turned to face Tala. "Yeah."  
  
"You never wrote that on your application!"   
  
"It neva' asked!"  
  
"Well there was a damned section where it said if you had any expirence with beyblade and a line for you to write on."  
  
"Well Ah checked off yes and Ah though that the line was just a seperation thing!"   
  
Tala was about to say something back when Suzuki shouted for them to stop.  
  
"Shut the hell up! I mean is this a battle or not?! Neptune, tsunami!" he ordered.  
  
At once, the core of his silvery blue beyblade shone, a whale that was as big as all the nine beystadiums shone in mid-air, causing Rain to fully widen her eyes. "Is that a bit beast?"   
  
Tyson nodded motionlessly.  
  
A toranado made of water began forming, draining the image of the whale inside the pre-tsunami.  
  
Rain finally knew it was going to attack laurie any moment, and looked at her, trying to catch her eyes. It worked, for Lorenza felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She smiled at Rain while Rain looked back worriedly. But her friend kept on smiling. A mischeivious glint in her silver eyes reassured Rain. With a last look of concern, the black haired girl looked back at the stadium, her sapphire blue eyes shone with hope for her friend.  
  
All of a sudden, Laurie stopped swaying her hips. She stared at her beyblade, then mouthed, "Final Destruction."   
  
No one heard her words, but they sure as hell heard thunder. A brilliant display of lightening hit north, west, east, and south inside the stadium and outside the stadium. ("Holy mother of jesus, Lorenza, watch where you hit those things!" Enrique implied.) Laurie glanced back at him from the corner of her eye as if saying, "Don't worry."  
  
Suddenly, when a lightening bolt struck the inside of the stadium, a large amount of earth fly to the the floor near where Rain was. Tyson held out a hand in front of his cousin, warning her to stay away. Suzuki looked at his oppenent in horror - knowing that water's weakness was electricity. Laurie gave him a very evil smile, as if saying, "Who's kickin' who's ass now?"   
  
Almost at once one of the bolts of lightening struck the pre made tsunami. Dazzling white and pale yellow mixed in with the water, soon tracing the water back to its source - the beyblade. Suzuki's Neptune was tangled in ropes of electricity and was rapidly spinning out of control. The white haired boy growled dangerously and gripped his hands into tight fists. Everyone could see that he was getting ready to attack. All but Laurie. Why? Because the tsunami's water was covering her view of the bowl. She had no idea that he was advancing on her, and no one told her...  
  
"Laurie! He's moving in on you!" Rain yelled. At once, Lorenza's eyes darted from her beyblade to his, not knowing what to do. She threw the first command that came to her mind.  
  
"Jump!"   
  
Tala, Tyson, Enrique, the other blonde, and Rei sweat dropped. That was the vague old move they have ever heard in a long, long time.   
  
"Dive down and hit his beyblade." Lorenza directed, watching her beyblade swirl around in the water/electric torando.   
  
Suzuki, hearing this, automaticly told his blade to move from side to side in order for Lorenza to miss the center of his beyblade.   
  
'Crap...' she thought.  
  
It looked like Lady Luck was with Suzuki right that moment, because as Spritz jumped up, it was hit by the water which sent it flying out of bound. Luckily, Spritz bounced off the rail and began circling Neptune, while Rain covered her gasp with both her hands. Her friend was going to fail making the team...  
  
Meanwhile the white head smirked in victory. Noticing this through the sky blue water, Lorenza glared back at him. "You didn't win yet, 'ya know." She pointed out. Suzuki looked back at her in a victorious gaze. "But I will soon."  
  
Laurie thought out loud. "Its now or never, Spritz. The god damned water's getting higher so might as well do it now. Thunder spin!" she yelled, seeing her beyblade fly up into the air. Lorenza quietly begged god to let her crush down, full force, onto the core of Suzuki's blade. Unfortunatly, it didn't.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
But fortunatly, it hit the side of it, sending it off course and hitting the side of the arena. A loud noise filled the stadium as the water died down with the electricity, and the winner of the battle would soon be determined.  
  
And as you could've guess, Lorenza won. Her blade continued spinning for a few seconds, then stopped, but Suzuki's stopped way before her's did. Rain widened her eyes.  
  
"You won, Laurie!"   
  
"Ah did?" She looked around to see welcoming gazes at her. "Woah, Ah did!" She sent Suzuki a victorious smirk.  
  
"Aww did poor wittle Suzi loose to a girl?" Lorenza taunted. Suzuki grunted and grabbed his beyblade, exiting the gym throwing curses at Lorenza. Rain immediatly went up to huge Laurie. "You did it!"   
  
Laurie nodded firmly. "Damn right Ah did! That is the biggest bastard alive!"  
  
Tala crept behind Lorenza and hugged her. He frowned. "Did he take my place?"  
  
The girl he was hugging gently pushed him away. "Nah, hes just the biggest bastard while your the biggest bitch." She giggled. You could tell she was in a good mood.  
  
Kai grunted from afar. "Shes on the team, now can you all just get the hell out of here so I can shut the door?" Tyson ran up to Kai and grinned. "Oh, c'mon! Leave the door open for a little while so we can just celebrate -" "No. Now get the fuck out of here. Especially you."   
  
Tyson sighed. "Fine, Mr. Sourpants. Just go on and prance around everywhere telling people to leave! Come on, Rain, we're out of here." The Granger cousins where about to leave when Lorenza was greeted by the blonde Emily was arguing to. He scratched his blonde hair and tightened his orange shirt around his waist. "Hey! My names Max Tate, welcome to the team!" He welcomed as he beamed at her.   
  
Laurie smiled back. "Hey, Ah'm Lorenza Monteiro. Wait a min...aren't 'cha Emily's boyfriend?"   
  
Tala, Rei, Enrique, and Rain snorted and directed their gazes at a empty spot on the floor. Max blushed bright red. "Um...no...," He looked nervously at his watch. "Er...hey, I gotta go help my dad at my store. I'll see you in class. Bye!" He waved, running quickly out of the gym. Enrique and Rei sweatdropped. Rei, looking at the digital clock cursed. "Damn, I gotta go help my parents with the restaurant. Aren't you going, Lorenza?"   
  
The brunette shook her head. "Nah, not yet. Ah'm waitin' for Tala. Oh, and don't call me Lorenza. Ah sound so f-ed up like that..."  
  
Rei and Enrique looked at the two as if a beatle just came out of thier mouths. Rei was the first one to make a sound.  
  
"O-kay...am I missing something?"   
  
Both Tala and Laurie looked at each other quickly before having Lorenza reply, "I'm his maid."  
  
"Personal maid." corrected Tala.  
  
This time, there was a longer pause. Also, this time, Enrique was the first one to recover from the shock.  
  
"Um...what the hell?"  
  
Tala shook his head. "Never mind. Just shut up and go, okay?" Enrique gave them one last paranoid glances before walking away. "Alright....later."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Hey, Tala? Ah'm gunna go now." Laurie insisted. "Tala?"  
  
The brunette knocked on the door thre times before opening the grand, ivory door.   
  
Tala's bedroom was just like any ordinary boys bedroom. A few model posters here and there, his favorite bands and skater companys. The only acception was the clean-ness of his room. Why do you ask that his room is so clean?  
  
Because of his *personal* maid.  
  
His room was red, with a royal blue carpet. His king sized bed lay in the middle with its silk navy blue sheets and blood red pillows. A plasma television was in front of the bed while his Sony flat screen computer, Windows XP, sat on a marble desk next to the crystal clear glass window that lead to the balcony. Laurie looked outside the window to see transparent rain drops hit Tala's balcony. It was the first summer storm.  
  
"Tala?!" She yelled. Soon, the red head master walked into the room with only a towel around his waist. "You called?"  
  
Lorenza turned around and stared at Tala's body. Her mouth hung limply open as she focused all her senses on Tala. His well toned, muscular body...god damn that boy was hot! She would just love to run right up there and -  
  
Wow. Did she actually think that? Was Mariah's habits rubbing off on her? She mentally slapped herself. Damn it! She just had to stop thinking about those damn thoughts! Now if only he would put on something that would cover him and his - Argh....there Ah go again.  
  
A sudden flash of lightening followed shorty by a earth shattering thunder snapped her out of her thoughts. The lights went out. Laurie let out a light gasp. She suddenly felt something warm run into her, hitting her nose.  
  
"Ow...Tala, that was my nose!"   
  
The brunette felt the warm 'thing' move away from her. "Sorry. I'm trying to find a flash light, man. But first I gotta change."  
  
"I-I-In hea'?" Laurie stammered. 'Damn it! No stammering! Stupid perverted thoughts...argh this can't be happening. Ah thought guys were suppose to do this!'   
  
Tala grinned in the dark at his maid's discomfort. "Yep. Its not like your gunna see me. I mean, we're in the dark, right?"   
  
Lorenza nodded shyly and bowed her head. She was so lucky that the lights went out, or you could see her valentine red face -  
  
"Uh, Laurie, is that your face?"   
  
Lorenza slapped her hand on both her eyes and bowed her head even lower.  
  
"N-no..."  
  
"Whatever....done." The noise comming from Tala changing stopped as they both went to look for Tala's flashlights. "Their on your bed, Ah remember putting it there..." insisted Lorenza.   
  
So, they both went to the bed.  
  
But apparently fate loved playing games.  
  
Tala tripped on the steps that lead him to his bed, therefore making Laurie kick the steps as well. The red headed male turned around, hearing her cry and tried to break her fall, but instead had her fall onto of him. The couple stayed that way for a moment before Lorenza reached out to grab the flash light. With a simple click, light emerged from the flashlight and Laurie's silver orbs met Tala's watery blue pools for eyes...  
  
Lorenza's brownish gold hair tickled Tala has he starred back at her. For a few moments, they stayed in that position, not finding it a bit awkward; but then Lorenza was the first one to snap out of her reverie. She rolled off of Tala and laid next to him.  
  
"Ah guess Ah'm not goin' anywhea' tonight."   
  
'Damn it, so fucking close!' cursed Tala. "Yeah." He got up and grabbed one layer of his comforter from his bed. "You take the bed, I'll get the floor." The male grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed and chucked it onto the carpeted floor. Without doing anything else, Laurie watched as her classmate laid on the carpet.  
  
"G'night." she said softely. "Yeah." was her reply.  
  
Clicking off the flashlight, she, too, laid on the bed on the side closest to Tala.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The rain had stopped. At the crack of dawn, Lorenza was awoken. Her thoughts on bringing her brother to school and making him breakfeast and lunch fought their way through her dreams; causing her to awake.  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
After five fruitless times of getting up, she finally made herself get out of bed. She gargled a few cups of water and spat them onto the sink, grabbed her backpack, and scribbled down a note and laid it next to the sleeping Tala. With a last glance at him, she set off on her bicycle and rode home to where her brother was, and where the gate to hell was located.  
  
"Matt?" Laurie called, opening the door to their trailer. What the sight she saw was defeantly not anything she was willing to wake up to. Her father looked down at her - although they were almost the same height - in a death glare. His hands gripped the grey remote control as his knuckles turned frightenly white. Her brother, Matt, came from behind his father and held Lorenza's hand in his. Their fathers normal red eyes became blood red. He bore his evil eyes into his children - mostly his daughter - and growled.  
  
"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN ALL NIGHT?!"  
  
Laurie inhaled a deep breath of air. Her head was already throbbing from the lack of sleep and now she had to deal with her father.  
  
"Ah was working late when a storm broke an' Ah had to stay there." she explained.  
  
"WELL WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THAT SHIT WHEN SOMEONE DROPPED YOUR BROTHER OFF? I MEAN IT COULD HAVE BEEN A KIDNAPPER! YOU WERE PROBABLY PARTYING YOUR ASS OFF WHILE STRIPPING FOR THAT GOD DAMNED 'MASTER' OF YOURS! I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE THAT MY OWN DAMN DAUGHTER WOULD TURN OUT TO BE A WHORE LIKE HER MOTHER!"  
  
The last comment really drove Lorenza off her edge.  
  
"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU JACK ASS, MY MOM WAS NOT THE BITCH THAT SLEPT WITH OTHER PEOPLE, IT WAS YOU! WHILE YOU WERE OUT DRINKING WITH ALL YOUR SO CALLED FRIENDS MOM DIED OF FUCKING CANCER! AH WORK MY ASS HARD TWENTY FOUR-SEVEN WHILE YOU JUST DRINK AND SMOKE, AND PROBABLY FUCK ABOUT FIVE GIRLS EACH DAY!"  
  
Her father shook in anger.  
  
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW DAMN WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BROTHER, WHAT IF YOU GUYS WERE KILL-"  
  
"YOU WOULDN'T GIVE A SHIT IF WE WERE KILLED! YOUR ONLY USING US TO GET MONEY! YOUR JUST A GREEDY SON OF A BITCH-"  
  
Laurie couldn't finish her sentence when her dad punched her in the side of her head, with the remote control in hand, which sent her head jerk towards the direction of the broken couch. She lay there, one hand on her head while the other holding her brothers hands. Matt starred in shock as he covered his body on top of his sisters protectivly. He could hear her crys and sniffs. Their father began glaring down his own son.  
  
"Come on, Matt, lets get out of this hell hole..." whispered Lorenza as she walked out the door, liftening up her pair of roller skates in her other hand. Their father watched as his children walked out the door. Laurie told her brother to hold her blades as they biked silently all the way to school...  
  
~*~*~  
  
The silver eyed girl shut her locker lifelessly as she made her way to homeroom. She didn't have her encounter with Rain, or any other of her friends that morning. She was about to enter the classroom when the same boy she spent the night with stopped her. Her head was throbbing in pain now, with her eye lids pushing hard to get her eyes to close. All the noise from the classroom was blocked from her mind as well as the images of people having a normal day in school. Lorenza let go of all emotion from her body, as well as control, and fainted.  
  
"Laurie!" Tala cried, catching her before she hit the ground. His left hand held her shoulders tightly against his chest while his right hand held her head. "Laurie..." He whispered. The red head lifted his right hand that held her head.  
  
  
  
  
  
Only to find the fluid that matched his hair color identicly on his palm.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Stargazer : Okay, well I hope you liked this chapter! The other chapters that are going to be in the future will be less long, but not as short as the first chapter. I know, Lorenza and Tala seem to be taking up this chapter but thats because there is a major link that has to do with everything. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review!  
  
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	3. Chapter 3

Stargazer : Omg...I swear i didn't know i would have 20+ reviews in two chaps!! never happend before, man! Anyhow, I know that a lot of you liked my other story, but I gotta say its frozen! As soon as I'm done with this, I promise that I'll de-freeze I'm a WHAT?! again and start on that!   
  
Disclaimer : I don't own beyblade.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Rain ran into the office. Her hair was a bit out of place and she was panting, but other than that she was fine. "Whe-where's the nurse's office?!" She asked, taking deep breaths and putting a hand over her heart.   
  
No one seemed the notice her arrival.  
  
"HELLO!?" shouted Rain in pure annoyance. She covered her mouth at once as soon as the tone of voice that escaped her mouth.   
  
Again, no one seemed the bother to look at her upon arrival.  
  
The black haired girl growled irratatedly and looked furiously around at the dull magenta counter, finally dropping her gaze on a bell. She stubbornly walked over and rang it six times. Immediatly, an old lady carrying a stack of vanilla colored files stopped and glared at her.   
  
"Once is enough, Miss!" she told Rain shrilly. Rain ignored her angered voice then asked quickly, "Where's the nurse's office?"   
  
The worker in front of Rain jerked her head to the counter's left. With a grunt, she picked up the folders and carried on with her day.   
  
Rain peered to her left and found the word "Nurse" engraved on a blue plaque. Without a second thought, she rushed towards the door.  
  
The first sight she saw was a thin, one person bed and Tala right next to it. His chair stood tilted backwards with his face emotionless.   
  
"Where's Laurie?!" paniced Rain, then mentally slapped herself. Well, duh, where else would she be other than in bed? She shook her head quickly and answered her own question, "Never mind."  
  
Cautiously, the black haired girl tip-toed towards her unconcious friend. Lorenza's face was a mixture of serenity, yet pain at the same time. Her tanned face showed no emotion, although her eyebrows were scrunched up to show pain. Laurie's mouth was slightly open as she so oftenly let out a deep sigh. Rain turned her gaze over to the white cloth tied around Laurie's head - covering from her forehead and around. A tint of creamy white mixed with red arose on the side of her head and Rain was determined to find out where that came from. Moving more closely to her fellow student, she crouched down slightly to see a light fog of blood on Laurie's head.  
  
Seeing this, her eyes widened and she let out a gasp. Tala glared at her, hearing it. "Don't wake her."  
  
Rain frowned and directed her gaze to the ground. 'What happened? Why's she bleeding? Is she gunna die?!' she thought franticly. She scolded herself of thinking her friend dying. Rain quietly pulled a chair over and sat next to the sleeping form of Laurie, on the other side of Tala.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It was about fifteen minutes later before Rain decided to break the silence.  
  
"Tala?" she whispered.  
  
"What?"   
  
"Um... don't mind me asking, but..."  
  
She casted a nervous glance towards Tala, only finding him staring up into the ceiling.  
  
"...what happend to Laurie?"  
  
There was a brief pause before Tala finally answered Rain. It was as if he was finding the correct words.  
  
Which he was.  
  
"Someone hit her."  
  
It took about ten seconds before the message got through her head. But although it did, she managed to squeak out a weak, "What?"  
  
Tala stopped staring off into the ceiling and tilted back his chair so all four legs were on the ground. He looked directly into Rain's eyes. "You know, punch her, deck her, kick her, whack her, throw something at her, club her, jab her, K.O.-ed her -" The girl across from him giggled slightly and shook her head. As her laughs quieted down, she turned to him again. "Seriously."  
  
Again, Tala repeated what he said earlier. "I *am* serious. Someone obviously hit her. The nurse said some bullshit about her probably being clumsy and walked into something but I'm not gunna buy that. I know when someone's hit, and that wound right there doesn't just come out by itself if she walks into a wall, especially when its the side of her head!" He lectured, raising his voice just a bit in the end.   
  
At once, both of them broke their eye contact and focused on something else. Rain, sitting crosslegged, looked at her hands uncomfortably while Tala looked out the door. A moment later, the black haired girl could hear Lorenza moan. "Tala!" she choked, pushing away her chair and standing up. The red head immediatly mimiced her actions and did the same, they both stared contently at Lorenza.  
  
Weakly, the lass' eyes started to open, traces of silver orbs began to look more clear as she finally got them to open fully. Although her eyes were now exposed to the light, her vision was still blurred.  
  
"Lorenza, what does that say?" Tala asked, pointing to a sign which read 'Honor Roll Students.'  
  
The brunette moaned in pain and slapped a hand on her forehead. "Ugh...how the hell am Ah suppose ta' know?"   
  
Rain's heart lightened greatly at the sound of her friend's voice. "Laurie!"   
  
Lorenza lazily turned her head to greet Rain. "Hey..." At that moment, Tala got up and casually walked out of the room. Rain helped her friend up carefully, worried that she did something wrong. "Hey, Laurie? Are you sure your alright?"   
  
She nodded, "Yeah. It doesn't hurt that much anymore...eh...well, at least when Ah don't touch it... Hey, Rain?"   
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Can you get me some water?"  
  
Almost on cue, Tala came in holding up a cup of water for Lorenza . Laurie smiled thankfully and held the cup in her hands. After drinking a couple of sips, the red head finally asked the question that was on both Rain and his mind. He watched her carefully, waiting for the right chance to talk.  
  
"Laurie?" Rain asked, before Tala got the chance to.  
  
"Mmm?" replied Lorenza, in the middle of gulping down water.  
  
"What happend?"   
  
Lorenza's eyes suddenly turned glazed, then back to its usual state. "Nothing."   
  
"Man, don't play dumb, Lorenza. I know something happend!" Tala protested  
  
"Nuttin' happened!" she snapped, then sighed. She glanced from Rain then to Tala. "Really."  
  
Both of the teens she looked at gave uncertain glances towards each other, followed by a moment of silence.  
  
Lorenza looked down at the cup of water Tala gave her, then at her shirt. She wasn't wearing the same shirt as yesterday...  
  
"Tala..." she breathed, her voice dangerously low. "Why am I wearing a different shirt..."  
  
The black hair girl beside Laurie flashed Tala a curious look. A sudden string of panic stretched across the boy's eyes.  
  
"U-u-um... we-well you se-see, y-you k-k-k-kinda' b-bleeded on-on-onto y-y-y-your -"   
  
Laurie cut Tala off.  
  
"T-T-T-T-Today, junior!"  
  
Rain chuckled silently as Lorenza did a some what perfect immatation of Adam Sandler, if he was a girl.  
  
"- sh-shirt so I-I-I th-thought -"  
  
"Just say it, already!" Laurie pleaded in vain.   
  
"- That you needed something to change in so I thought of your gym clothes and went to your gym teacher to get it for me and she did and after that...!" yelled Tala, then paused, and resumed his stuttering stage.  
  
"We-We-Well-Well..."  
  
Lorenza inhaled a deep breath of September air. "Don't tell me you put this on me..." she murmmered, emphasizing each word.   
  
"W-W-We-Well -"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"WHAT THE FUCK!??!?!?!?!?" roared Lorenza, forgetting her pain and sitting up rather strait. Her accent cleared and her silver eyes turned gray.  
  
Rain, quite amazed by her friend's sudden burst of energy, backed away slightly. She thought quickly of a lie.  
  
"Laurie, it's not Tala! You see, he got your clothes while I was...erm...changing...you...." lied Rain, finding the right words for the situation. Unfortuantly, none seemed right to fit their scene.  
  
The brunette looked from Rain to Tala, in which she looked at him with slits for eyes. "You'a lyin'..." she hissed.   
  
"No - No! I'm not! Ask Tala. Laurie, c'mon. You should really go back to bed,I mean your head will probably hurt a lot after you just, well, jumped Tala. So just lay back down and leave all the jumping 'till later..." Rain soothed, flipping the blanket towards the foot of the bed so it wouldn't get tangled with her friend's foot.  
  
With one last 'humph' of defeath, she sat back down in her bed completely unaware of the pain in her head. The sudden thought of meeting Mariah at the skating rink popped into her mind.  
  
"Oh'm gawd! What time is it, Rain?" she asked.  
  
"Um..." the black haired girl leaned to her left to get a good view of the office's clock. "It's gunna be two in a moment, why?" "Nothin' but Ah gotta get out of this place!"   
  
Tala suddenly turned to her strictly and told her to stay, and take the day off to her house. Laurie's eyes widened in anger and growled. "Hey, Rain? Do you mind if me an' my brother stay at your place for awhile?" Rain gave Laurie a questioning look before replying, "No..."  
  
"Why?" Tala and Rain asked in unison.   
  
Lorenza sighed and crossed her arms across her chest. "Ah've got family issues, okay?"   
  
There was a breif silenece. Rain and Tala's gaze were locked together.  
  
"Is that why you have that big ass bruise on your head? Because a family member hit you?" asked Tala.  
  
"NO! Didn't Ah tell you that Ah was bein' stupid and hit myself while waking up this morning?"   
  
"You spent the night at my place and I didn't hear no crash!"  
  
Rain stared at amazement at the two, obviously too busy arguing to notice her confused look casted between them. Did he just say 'spent the night at my palce'? This was just getting too freaky... By this time, Rain had already started making her way towards the door to close it.  
  
"Well just ta' let you know, 'Mast'a Ivanov', Ah live in a freakin' trailer! Do you know how low the ceilings are? It's typical for me to smack my head on something while Ah was goin' to pick up my lil' brother!" shrieked Lorenza.   
  
It was true, it could have been typical for Laurie to run into something accidentally in a trailer. Tala was only taller than her by a few inches, and he was pretty tall. Anyone who was as tall as Kai would be refeared to as a giant, in which, Tala was. Rain, being the shorter of the two in the room, glided inbetween the two bickering couples and tried to stop them from biting each others head off.  
  
"You could've just woken me up so I could take you to your house! At least you could've gotten some sleep while you were in the car!" Tala scolded.  
  
"You don't get it!" Lorenza dug her head into her pillow and screamed. "Just get out!"   
  
Tala's sapphire eyes softened at the tone of voice Laurie used on him. "Look -"  
  
"OUT!"   
  
Admiting defeat, Tala shook his head and pushed his chair out of his way, storming out into the schools hallway and slamming shut the patient rooms door. A few protests could be heard ("Young man! Do *not* slam the door..." etc.).  
  
Lorenza screamed in vain once more and laid her head back down on the bed. "Ah am so STUPID!" Rain smiled re-played the recent scenes in her mind. Ohhhhh yeah, they were so made for each other.  
  
I mean, who the hell spends a night at a hot guy's house who just happens to be your employer *and* he cares for how you feel in the morning?!   
  
"Look, Laurie, I'm here so you can always come to me when your in a mess..." Rain started.  
  
The lass on the bed shoved the pillow out of her face and gave Rain a skeptical look.   
  
"O-kay, that sounded really stupid. But just listen, if you wanna stay at my place, I'm sure my grandpa will be glad for you and your brother to stay at our place."   
  
The silver eyed girl nodded her head and sighed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you so much! Hey, do you mind um, well..." As Lorenza trailed off, Rain tilted her head in question. "Yeah?"  
  
"...Well...my little brother needs someone to pick him up and well, Ah kinda' told Mariah to meet me at the skating park after school today, since she thinks she knows everything, and Ah just...feel like makin' her life a livin' hell!" Laurie beamed. Her friend next to her paused to just silently look at her for a moment before bursting into fits of giggles.   
  
"Is that all?" she asked.  
  
Lorenza nodded. "Yup."  
  
"Oh, thats nothing! Sure, I'll do it. But can you give me the directions? I'm kind of new here, as you can see..."  
  
"Mm hm! Yeah, and you can use my bike!"   
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Mariah. The captain of the cheerleading team. An anti-skater girl.  
  
Here.  
  
In a skating *park.*  
  
'This is so stupid...' she thought, looking around. Apparently, no one seemed to notice her with the disguise she had on. Her hair was down, which was never likely in school and she had on clothes from 'Hot Topic,' which seemed like the last place she'd shop at. Mariah finally lost her patience and was about to storm out of the park when Lorenza showed up.  
  
"Where were you?!" the pink haired girl asked in a hushed, yet fierce, voice. "Somewhere obviously not here..." Laurie replied, rolling her eyes. Mariah glared at her. "Forget it." "Forgotten."  
  
"So what do you want me to do?" asked Mariah.  
  
"Anything. But Ah bet you can't do a thing, now can you?" mocked Laurie, looking down on Mariah's pants. The pair of slacks she wore were way too big, it was impossible for anyone to have a glance at her blades. It was that, *and* it was impossible to skate.  
  
"Well if I can't do a thing now, how am I suppose to challenge you? Its not like your gunna rip - hey! What are you doing?" She snapped, emphasizing the word 'what.' She kicked her leg back so Lorenza wouldn't reach it. On the other hand, the brunette was already on her knees trying to get a hold of her left leg.  
  
"Will you just hold still? Ah'm gunna tear this thing...," she replied, finally getting hold of Mariah's leg.  
  
Mariah looked as if someone just asked her if she was a lesbian.  
  
"What?! I spent a good fourty bucks on that! There is no way in -" she paused. "-Heck that I'm going to let you rip it!"   
  
Lorenza stood up again and crossed her arms across her chest. "What? Is daddy's lil' princess afwaid to use a bad word?" Mariah looked infuriated. "Hell no! I can fucking swear whenever I want to!" Laurie grinned at her. "Better. Now hold still, damn it! Ah'm tryin' to do you a favor!"   
  
Letting out one last sigh, Mariah stuck out her left foot for Lorenza to rip apart. As Lorenza bent down, a short boy about fourteen trudged by, flashing the pink haired girl a grin. "'Sup."  
  
Mariah gave him a sarcastic look, rolling her eyes. Lorenza didn't look up to see who it was.  
  
"Yo, I neva' saw you hea'. You new or sumtin'?" He asked. Mariah observed the boy, looking from his head to toe. He had green hair that covered one of his purple eyes while the other, traveled up and down Mariah's body.  
  
"Shut up, Kevin, and stop tawlkin' like Mr. T! Besides, my...'cousin'...," Lorenza stopped trying to rip Mariah's pants and grinned evily. "...isn't intrested in you." Kevin gave a skeptical look at Laurie's back.  
  
"You have a cuz'?"   
  
"Your lookin' at her... You know, the bitchy one that Ah always talk 'bout. The one from... the U.S.! Aw, c'mon, don't tell me ya don't rememba'! Ah keep on tellin' you how much of'a whore she is and how - OW!" Laurie stopped to glare at Mariah. "What was *that* for? Ah was just tellin' him how much of'a - OW! STOP, DAMN IT!" she cried, finally ripping about a foot of her 'cousin's' pants off. "Look what you did! Ah ripped too much!"  
  
Kevin smirked at Mariah. "So, babe, whats your name?"   
  
Mariah narrowed her eyes into slits and shot him a death glare.  
  
"Kevin, or whatever, *you* need to pull those pants of yours up because no one wants to see your boxers, and defenatly *not* me. Now why not you and your little K-Mart shoes go turn around and walk on out of here."   
  
Kevin took a step towards Mariah. "They ain't from K-Mart. An' whoevea' that's related to Lorenza wouldn't know whut designers shoes look like."  
  
"Oh, your right, they're not from K-Mart. Sorry, I ment to say Payless."   
  
This time, the purple eyed boy pushed Mariah backwards with both his hands. Lorenza just sat, crossed legged on the ground, and observed the two.  
  
"Their NOT from Payless, either!" he roared.  
  
"Salvation Army, Payless, they're all the same!" shot back Mariah, shoving Kevin about three feet away from her. The boy grunted and murmmered something that sounded like, "Bitch," under his breath and cracked his knuckles. Laurie sighed and shook her head.  
  
"Kevin, just go away."  
  
"NO!"  
  
"YES! Now shut up and get the hell outta' hea! Ah don't wanna your ugly face right now..." she frowned. Kevin didn't back down, instead he advanced on Mariah and Lorenza, glaring daggers at both of them.  
  
"Ya know what? Stop your 'Ah'm such a bad-ass that everyone will back off' kinda personality because everyone can kick your ass! Now go the hell away before *Ah* kick *your* ass!" Lorenza hissed at him. Kevin didn't stop.  
  
"You know, very well, that Ah would - and could - beat you up, so go away!"   
  
With one last threat thrown to him, Kevin growled and turned around, muttering several curses at the girls. Laurie rolled her eyes and got up from the ground.  
  
"Is he, like, always like that?" Mariah asked, not moving. "No." Lorenza said, sarcasticly.  
  
The brunette started skating away towards the rail's placed everywhere when she noticed her cheerleader 'cousin' wasn't moving.  
  
"Can't you move?"   
  
"No."  
  
Laurie slightly twitched the end of her right eye in annoyance and glided towards her. "It's not like your gunna die if you fall, ya know."   
  
Mariah made a very irratable whinning noise. "But I just got my nails done...professionally, too!"   
  
About this time, Lorenza couldn't hold back her anger. "You know, what, princess? Theres more to life than guys, make-up, clothes, and you'a nails." Her voice was slightly sandy.  
  
Mariah crossed her arms over her chest and turned her eyes into white and gold slits. "Ugh, as if you and your friends know what's important in life. You obviously need a change clothes, because last time I checked, Monteiro, you wore that same outfit yesterday."   
  
Laurie, in return, did the same thing and glared at the girl in front of her. "You obviously don't know how hard it is to survive out in the world. You an' you'a friends think your everything, because of what? Because of money. Ah bet if you parents died, you wouldn't know what the hell you would do with yourself since you wouldn't have 'daddy' to pay for everything. Hell, for all Ah know, you would probably be so desperate you'll sell your body!"   
  
"You fucking whore, don't you *EVER* talk about my family like that! Do you have any idea how stressful it is to live up to your reputation when your father's the C.E.O. of one of the most biggest company's in Japan? You and your friends defenatly, WOULD NOT!" Mariah raised her hand to slap Lorenza but the brunette blocked it with a simple action of her arm. People at the park stopped to watch the fight, hoping that there would be some action between the two girls. It wasn't often two hot girls got into cat-fights...  
  
"Maybe Ah wouldn't, but; one thing for sure, you should stop pulling my friends into this!" Lorenza lowered her voice into a deadly tone. "Because you know why? Your here. In a skating park. With skaters. And last time Ah checked, didn't you and you'a friends say that the day that one of you guys stepped foot in this place is the day where that somebody would be automaticly kicked off the cheerleading squad, stop the 'friendship connection,' and be banned from the jock and cheerleaders 'inner circle'? And you know what? You should seriously consider to stop pissing me off anytime soon, because Ah have a big mouth and Ah'm not afraid to use it."   
  
Although Laurie's voice was barely above a whisper, Mariah consumed every word of it and widened her eyes. She forgot about her and her friend's oath.   
  
With one last tormenting smirk that was aimed at the cheerleader, Lorenza turned around and skated away, much to the crowd's dismise. Mariah stared off into space, taking in what Laurie just said to her and her stupid, stupid mistake. Without knowing it, she grabbed onto the nearby wall and started to skate towards the exit of the park slowly. Her usually glossy, creamy, lemon colored eyes were glazed all over. When she neared the stairs, she failed to notice a raven haired guy about her age skating towards her.  
  
  
  
  
  
Rei was skating around on his skateboard, apparently very bored since his friends were no where to be found. He abandoned his hopes of hanging out with his friends during that time and skate home to help with his uncle with his restaurant. Just when he was going to exit the park through the ramp that lead to the main entrance/exit, the boy widened his eyes when he saw a girl that was going the same way.   
  
"Watch out!" Rei yelled.  
  
Mariah snapped out of her trance and looked at Rei with a monotone expression. Her face turned into a mixture of surprise and horror, but as she looked into his face, she felt blood rushing towards her face.  
  
Immediately, she let go of the wall and cupped both her hands over her mouth. Mariah froze in her place while looking strait in the eye - him doing the same. In an instant, they crashed together.  
  
The dame shrieked as she was pushed against her will off the pavement and rolled down the cement staircase. Rei, on the other hand, landed next to his skateboard about two feet away from the collision. The boy left his skateboard lieing there on the ground and rushed to Mariah.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. Mariah held onto her right leg - the bottom portion - and looked at it. The wound covered about from the beginning of her ankle to half way down from her knee-cap. She saw that the scrap was pretty bad - looking at the peache skin peeled off from her tanned skin. Tiny pools of red could be seen, about the size of a well-sharpened pencil tip, but they then formed a small trail of blood.   
  
Mariah looked up to catch Rei's eyes - who looked up in that instant from observing her leg. For a moment, they both locked gazes while silently running their eyes on each other's faces. The pink haired cheerleader laid her leg gently on the ground but regreated it greatly. She sucked in a deep breath of air and held her leg again - breaking the gaze between her and the boy in front of her.   
  
"I don't know..." she trailed off, looking back into Rei's eyes again. Rei looked down at his lap and inhaled a deep breath of air.  
  
"Look, I don't know if there's any first aid here or anything but if you want, I'll carry you to my uncle's restaurant so we can wash that scrape up." he said.   
  
Although it was only a few minutes that they met, Mariah began to develop a small crush on him. The way he looked - how his ebony hair stuck up in random directions with his poney tail in the back - and especially his voice was driving her crazy.   
  
"Uh...sure..." she replied, then slapped herself for sounding like a love-sick school girl.  
  
"I mean - sure!"   
  
Mariah tried to get up by pushing her weight on one foot while her left hand grabbed onto the wall for support. When she tried to walk on her wounded right foot, though; she winced in pain.   
  
Rei watched as the pink haired girl struggled with walking. He looked worriedly at her and walked up to her calmly. "Are you sure your okay?" Mariah forced a smile, then replied, "Yeah." Rei frowned. "No your not." He walked over towards her and crouched down, his back facing Mariah.   
  
"Huh?" she asked, quite shyly if I say so myself. Mariah wasn't use to this. She was never shy with anyone. Ever. And now she's being shy around a guy she must met for five minutes!   
  
"Get on me. I'll carry you to my uncle's restaurant. Oh um...my names Rei Kon." He said, waiting for her to get on his back.  
  
Mariah thought for a moment about his name. About a moment later she broke her reverie and started to encircle her arms around his neck.  
  
"Um...m-my names...," A sudden jolt in her mind caused her to tighten up. What was her name?! "My names Mary Monteiro."  
  
As Rei bent down to pick up his skateboard and grinned. "Are you related to Lorenza Monteiro?"  
  
"Yeah...she's my cousin." lied Mariah.  
  
"Cool...she's on the school beyblading team, like me. All we need now is another girl..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey, Lorenza!" called Rain, waving at her friend. Laurie turned around to see her little brother running towards her, abandoning Rain on the road.  
  
"Hey! Thanks for gettin' my brother there! You just wait there for a moment, Ah gotta get my backpack!" Lorenza yelled back. After a brief hug she receieved from her little brother, Rain smiled at the moment between the two siblings.   
  
Just when the brunette turned around to venture through the park to get her backpack, a sharp scream filled the air causing Laurie to swing back.  
  
"Move it, Granger!" yelled Kai, sprinting towards Rain as she just froze there - watching as the jet-black car raced towards her. Kai tackled Rain making both of them fall on the pavement just across the street from the park. Lorenza turned around wide eyed and caught a glimpse of the van zoom away. Her brother, next to her, clutched her hand and looked fearfully at the car, then at Kai and Rain.   
  
When the car was finally out of sight, Rain sighed and looked up at Kai who was right above her, glaring at the car that just sped by. She blushed at their awkward position. She heard Kai grunt and push himself off her while dusting himself off.  
  
"Th-thanks...," she thanked shyly. The boy beside her stared down at her. "Whatever." sneered Kai. With a simple, "Hn," he turned around swiftly and walked away. Rain stared after him, watching his figure becoming more and more smaller as he walked.  
  
"Whot happend?!" cried Lorenza.   
  
Rain was still watching Kai leave. A light breeze arose and flew by them, Matt still clutching his sister's arm.  
  
The black haired teen stared at the ground and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She slowly slid her left hand up her right arm and covered the 'I' mark with her palm.  
  
"I don't know..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey, Sarah!" greeted Mariah happily. She opened the door and stepped through the threshold of her victorian styled house. Mariah closed the door lightly behind her and leaned on it, her yellow eyes was glazed over with a dream-like state.  
  
A maid, in the mid-fourties, hustled by with a duster in hand and smiled at her mistress.  
  
"Hello, Mistress Mariah," Sarah bowed. The pink haired girl bounced towards her personal maid, very hyped up, and hugged her.  
  
"Oh, Sarah, stop calling me 'mistress'! I just *got* to tell you what happend! Anyways, today I made this bet with a girl in my school of going to this skating park, and I did! Well, there, I kind of got into a fight and then I started to walk away when this totally hot guy just crashed into me! You would think thats horrible, but it wasn't! I swear to god, he was the most gorgeous guy I have ever met - and he even said that he was in my school! And to think, all that time I couldn't see him! And to think that he knew the girl I got in a fight with!'   
  
The elderly women, quite surprised by the young girls recent outburst, chuckled and patted her head in a grandmotherly fashion.   
  
  
  
  
  
"Get your hands off my daughter!" A shrill, yet in the same time strict, voice accused.  
  
Sarah shot open her eyes and released her embrace with Mariah and bowed very lowly. "I'm sorry, Madam. I shall be going now."   
  
A women in her early thirties sneered down at Sarah's fragile form and looked, displeased to the least, over at Mariah.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mom." apologised the teen. She bowed her head down and looked strait down towards the floor. Mariah still felt her mom's cold eyes on her back. "Ma'am."  
  
Mariah's mom shifted her gaze towards the door and nodded silently. "Your father's out again tonight. Tomorrow we'll be hosting a party. Make sure you don't forget to come." she droned, emphasizing the word 'forget'. Mariah rolled her eyes when her mother wasn't looking at her. "It's not like I've ever missed one in my life." she murmmered.  
  
"What was that?" snapped Mrs. Zhang. "Nothing." Mariah replied.   
  
"We'll be having dinner in ten minutes. Go wash up and put on some..." Mrs. Zang eyed Mariah's choice of clothing. "...Suitable clothes. What are these rags you are wearing?!"   
  
Mariah looked down at herself. "Um...I'll go change."   
  
Her mom eyed her one last time as Mariah climbed up the stairs, her nose twitching in the utmost disgust. "Oh, and Ma'am?"   
  
Mrs. Zang slightly tilted her head giving Mariah a cue to go on. "I don't think I want dinner. You go enjoy the meal without me."   
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Very well."  
  
With that, Mariah's mom headed towards the east side of the house, while Mariah to the left.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Sarah!" hissed Mariah excitedly. Sarah, who was currently dusting off a shelf crammed full of ancient chinese scrolls, looked around the hall and finally noticed Mariah's head peeking out from her door. "Mariah! We can't talk now, what if your mom catches us?"   
  
Mariah squinted the end of her right eye in annoyance and pulled the women gently towards her room. With a 'click' the door was lock.  
  
"Now, we won't have anyone to bother us! Anyways, I just have to tell what happend today! The boy I met, well his name is Rei, and he is the most dreamiest guys ever! He even has the most wonderful personality and he is such a gentlemen! Did you know his uncle owns a restaurant? And god they make the most delicous food EVER, after you, of course. Oh yeah, and he also told me he was on the school beyblading team! Isn't that so cool? I bet he works out a LOT...." babbled Mariah. Sarah widened her eyes softely. "Oh? His name is Rei?" Mariah giggled quite girlishly. "Yeah!"  
  
Sarah chuckled at the young women in front of her. She thought of how she bought her up, from her obessions with pink poneys, and now to boys. She shook her head with a grin on her face and sighed.   
  
"You've grown a lot, m'dear. Did you know that?"   
  
Mariah snorted. "Yeah, yeah!" she hurried, then hugged Sarah. "Your like the closest thing I got!"   
  
Sarah smiled and then asked, "Did you say he beybladed?"   
  
The pink haired girl nodded quickly. "Yeah!" Sarah thought for a moment. "I believe your mother beybladed when she was about your age."   
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes." nodded Sarah. Mariah suddenly blushed. "Um...if you don't mind me asking...whats beyblade?"   
  
Sarah sighed, yet again, and took off her glasses. There was a small pause as she cleaned off her lenses and re-covered them over her eyes.  
  
"Well, my husband use to teach beyblade as a job, and then he taught it to my son which taught it to his. I don't recall the very specific details on everything but...,"   
  
Mariah listened intently to every word that came out of Sarah's mouth and made mental notes to herself about it. When fifteen minutes passed, the phone across the room rang suddenly, making Sarah halt and Mariah tense up. They both exhaled slowly as a result of their happiness it was not Mrs. Zhang.   
  
"I'll get it, dear, just wait where you are." assured Sarah. Mariah nodded as she re-stated all the facts Sarah had just informed her of in this 'beyblading' sport.   
  
"Mariah, its for you. It's Lee." Sarah declared.  
  
The teen slightly frowned at the sound of his name, but none the less smiled and stood up. Sarah handed the ivory, victorian style phone to Mariah and started to walk back to her bed, where they were sitting.  
  
"Hey." greeted Mariah, sitting in a near by stool and lifting her wounded leg up.   
  
"Hey. I just wanted to call 'cuz I have this football game on Saturday. I dunno if your busy or not, but I'm just calling to see if you can come." 'Lee' said.  
  
Mariah nodded absent mindedly and examined the cloth that tied up her ingury. It was from the very material Rei's shirt were mad of, since he ripped his own clothing to help her pain reside.  
  
She traced the black cloth around her leg with her index finger, a silly smile spread across her face. "Uh huh...no problem, I think I don't have anything planned for Saturday...," answered Mariah.  
  
Throughout the conversation, she basicly repeated the words "Uh huh," and "Mm hm," while playing around with the loose knot from the bow.  
  
All Mariah was thinking of was a raven haired beyblader...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
...And that raven haired beyblader was Rei.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Stargazer : Omg, finally! I'm sorry that I haven't been updating, its because of school! I won't be updating that quick (not that I did before ^^), but I'll try my best. The next chapter will be a little fast paced, so...yeah. Anyways, PLEASE don't forget to review!  
  
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